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Bespoke ecommerce websites. We build on Shopify or WooCommerce when those fit (most of the time), but the recommendation follows your catalogue, your team's workflow, and your fulfilment ops. Senior operators on every build. SEO and Merchant Centre wired clean from launch.
What it unlocks
Built for online stores at every stage: launching a new ecommerce brand, replatforming from a templated theme that has run out of road, or migrating from one platform to another (Magento to Shopify, Wix to WooCommerce, BigCommerce to custom).
Capabilities
Engagement rhythm
Free scoping call and platform recommendation
Discovery, IA, and design
Build, SEO, and integration
Launch and post-launch growth
What we do
We build bespoke ecommerce sites around your catalogue, your team's workflow, and your margin structure. When Shopify or WooCommerce is genuinely the better fit, we build there (it almost always is). When you have catalogue complexity, B2B pricing, or operational requirements that neither handles cleanly, we build custom. The recommendation comes from your business, not from which platform we have a partnership with.
Product pages designed around the questions your customers actually ask before they buy: sizing, fit, returns, lead time, social proof. Reviews, FAQs, trust signals, urgency cues placed deliberately, not pattern-matched from another store. Checkout decluttered to the fields that actually need to be there, payment gateways prioritised by what your buyers use, mobile-first because most ecommerce traffic is mobile.
Schema markup (Product, Review, BreadcrumbList, Offer), sitemaps that scale, hreflang where you sell cross-border, structured product data, Google Merchant Centre feeds wired up clean from launch. The technical SEO foundations Google rewards over the long term, baked into the build rather than retrofitted by an SEO agency after the fact.
Lighthouse 95+ on mobile is the baseline, not a stretch goal. Optimised images, lazy-loaded media, deferred third-party scripts, Core Web Vitals tuned before launch. Page weight discipline. Templated themes typically ship at 60-70 on mobile; we ship at 95+. The gap converts to ranking, conversion, and ad quality score lift.
Klaviyo, Loox, Gorgias, Recharge, payment gateways (Payfast, Yoco, PayGate), courier integrations (Bob Go, Shipper, The Courier Guy, Pargo), ERP and CRM integrations wired up cleanly. Server-side tracking via the Conversions API as default, not an afterthought. We pick integrations that earn their seat and skip the ones that just add maintenance burden.
Optional retainer for ongoing CRO, content, and conversion programme. Most clients pair the build with our paid media, SEO, or CRO retainers, the same team that built the store knows where the optimisation surface is. Or pay per project as you need work done. Source code, admin, hosting are all in your name; you can leave any time.
How an engagement runs
30-minute call. We learn about your catalogue, your team's workflow, your fulfilment, your current platform if any, and your growth ambitions. Within 48 hours: a platform recommendation (Shopify, Shopify Plus, WooCommerce, or custom) with the reasoning, plus a fixed-price quote and timeline. No scope-creep mid-build.
Catalogue audit. Workflow audit. IA design: navigation, taxonomy, PDP and collection structure. Wireframes for the page types that matter. Visual design in Figma. Sign-off before any code is written. Design system extended (typography, components, patterns) so the editorial team can compose new pages later without losing brand consistency.
Front-end build (bespoke theme on the chosen platform). Schema deployed. Merchant Centre feed configured. Conversions API wired. Payment gateways and couriers integrated. App stack curated. Email and CRM sync set up. Migration plan finalised if you are replatforming. Staging walkthroughs at the 50 and 100 percent marks.
Launch including 301 redirects from old URL structure. Search Console re-verified. GMC re-submitted. First 30 days bug-fix included. From day 31, optional CRO retainer or ongoing growth retainer kicks in. Most clients keep us on; some take the keys and run. Either is fine.
The lay of the land
Most ecommerce builds we inherit fall into one of three patterns. First, a buy-once Shopify theme that looked great in the demo and ships at Lighthouse 65 with five paid apps adding bloat by month six. Second, a WordPress site with WooCommerce bolted on, run through Elementor, that crashes the host every Black Friday. Third, a custom build done cheaply by a freelancer who used an outdated framework, no documentation, no test suite, and disappeared two years in. All three end with the same conversation: 'we need to rebuild'.
The fix is to take the platform decision seriously upfront. Shopify is the right answer for most product-led ecommerce brands under R50m revenue without complex B2B or subscription needs. Shopify Plus opens up B2B, subscription, multi-storefront, and checkout extensions. WooCommerce is right when you need WordPress-native editorial alongside your store, complex B2B pricing without Plus-tier costs, or full ownership without platform fees. Custom-built makes sense for businesses with catalogue and operational complexity neither handles cleanly, and the team to maintain it long-term.
Then build with discipline. Performance budget treated as a hard requirement, not a wish. SEO foundations deployed as part of the build, not after. Schema, internal linking patterns, sitemap structure, and Merchant Centre feed all wired up before launch. Conversions API set up server-side from day one so iOS, ad blockers, and third-party cookie deprecation do not eat your attribution. Most of the value of a senior ecommerce build is in the work nobody sees: the build is correct, so the next three years of marketing investment actually compounds.
FAQ
Depends on catalogue complexity, B2B vs B2C mix, ownership preference, and team capability. Shopify is right for most product-led B2C brands. Shopify Plus when you need checkout extensions, B2B, or subscription. WooCommerce when you want WordPress ownership and editorial flexibility. Custom-built when neither fits cleanly. The scoping call ends with our honest recommendation, not the platform we have a commercial relationship with.
Depends on platform choice (Shopify, Shopify Plus, WooCommerce, custom), catalogue size, integrations (Klaviyo, ERP, courier, payment gateway), and design ambition. Bespoke front-ends or headless commerce add complexity and timeline. The scoping call ends with a fixed-price quote within 48 hours, line-itemed by scope. No surprise scope changes.
10 to 14 weeks for most builds, reflecting the wider scope of platform selection, IA, and ecommerce integrations. Standalone Shopify builds without that scope land closer to 8 to 12 weeks (see our dedicated Shopify Development page). Larger catalogues, B2B, or headless add to it. Migrations from another platform add a separate weekend on top, scheduled to your lowest-traffic window.
Yes. Headless makes sense when content marketing volume is high (storefront and editorial integration matters), when you need sub-second page loads for ad-heavy traffic, or when your buyers expect app-like interactivity that traditional Shopify or Woo themes cannot deliver. It costs more to build and maintain; we will be direct about whether it is worth it for your stage.
Magento we know but rarely build new on (the licensing and hosting overhead is hard to justify today unless you are migrating a legacy store). BigCommerce is fine but Shopify usually wins on app ecosystem. Wix and Squarespace are not built for serious ecommerce; if you are on either and revenue is growing, replatforming to Shopify or WooCommerce is the right next step.
Yes. 301 redirects mapped across the full URL structure: products, collections, blogs, pages. Schema and structured data migrated. Search Console resubmitted with the new sitemap. Internal links updated. We treat SEO continuity as a deliverable of the migration, not a side-task.
Both. Many clients keep us on for paid media, SEO, or CRO retainers (the same team that built the store runs the growth programme). Some take the build and run growth in-house or with another partner. Either is fine; we do not lock you in. Source code, admin, hosting, and integrations are in your name from day one.
Everything we do
Pick any other engagement that fits your business, or take the whole stack from one senior team.
Custom Shopify themes, performance-tuned from launch, conversion-led PDPs, SEO and Merchant Centre wired clean.
Custom WooCommerce themes that perform like Shopify, with the editorial flexibility and ownership of WordPress.
Custom WordPress sites built code-first as the default, with the option of a properly configured page builder when your team needs ongoing editorial freedom.
We update, back up, monitor, and patch your WordPress site every week so a stale plugin never takes your business offline.
Technical SEO, content, local, schema, and Search Console health, run as a retainer and measured against revenue.
Most Shopify SEO is left to an app that emits duplicate or invalid schema. We do the work in Liquid, where it belongs.
WooCommerce SEO done at theme and plugin level, not delegated to the Yoast WooCommerce add-on.
WordPress SEO done at theme, plugin, and hosting level, not delegated to a Yoast or Rank Math settings page.
We build Google Ads accounts around conversions: tight structure, clean tracking, landing pages that match the query.
Paid search, paid social, SEO, content, and analytics run by the same senior people, with reporting tied to pipeline.
Most PPC agencies run Google only. We run Google plus Microsoft Ads in parallel, with cross-channel tracking and audience strategy.
Shopping and Performance Max are the start, not the strategy. We run the full funnel for ecommerce accounts, with margin context, not just ROAS.
Shopify-specific Google Ads work: native Merchant Centre integration, customer-list sync, Shopify Audiences, and PDP-level CRO.
Service businesses optimise to form fills. We optimise to sales-qualified leads and closed-won revenue, wired into your CRM.
We run Facebook and Instagram Ads with senior account managers, server-side tracking, and continuous creative testing so spend earns its keep.
No templates. No page builders. Bespoke websites with Lighthouse 95+, SEO foundations baked in, and CMS controls that make sense.
Custom-built ecommerce, sized to your catalogue and ops. Shopify, WooCommerce, or custom-built; the platform follows the business model.
Cape Town-focused SEO: local pack and Google Business Profile, technical foundations, content, and GSC discipline, run as a retainer and measured against revenue.
Cape Town web design agency. Bespoke builds, Lighthouse 95+, SEO foundations baked in, CMS controls your team can actually use. In-person discovery meetings across the city.
Bespoke website builds engineered around your stack, your integrations, and how the site has to perform under real load. Custom code, headless where it fits, observability and security treated as deliverables.
Continuous CRO: diagnose where the funnel leaks, run hypothesis-led tests, measure against revenue, not vanity engagement metrics.